Goodbye 2018, Hello 1989
Making sense of our Post- “Green Book” world
The Oscars are over! Thank the heavens; we’ve survived!
After months of chaotic missteps by the Academy, coupled with heated discussions over the selected nominees, the Oscars arrived and were…actually ok.
The show itself ran smoothly, with some particularly joyous moments scattered throughout the night.
Among my favorite were:
- Spike Lee’s long overdue win and the scream of joy Sam Jackson had after reading his friend’s name on the envelope.
- Olivia Coleman’s surprise win for Best Actress
- The long-awaited, slightly awkward, stage performance of “Shallow” from A Star Is Born
But, I want to talk about something else. I want to talk about Green Book.
Yes, the recent best picture winner that seemed to send shockwaves of disgust all across film twitter.
It’s a complicated picture. One that I sensed would be a point of heated discussion from first viewing it back at a festival in October. The audience no doubt enjoyed the picture and many of the critics I spoke to after seemed largely won over by the film’s charm, but something kept eating at me. Was this really a picture released in 2018? Would audiences beyond the bubble of largely older, white moviegoers who attended my screening, embrace something that felt like a companion piece to Driving Miss Daisy?
The answer, unsurprisingly, was no.
To some extent, I understand both sides of the debate. It’s easy to see what the people who love this movie find endearing about it; the performances are charming, there’s humor, and a warm, feel-good ending to send you off on.
For those who dislike it, there’s bafflement directed toward the outdated way the tackles race, as well as the tone-deaf messaging in many of its most important scenes. (Do I really need to explain why a white man teaching a black man to eat fried chicken is problematic?) Anyone seeking a more In-Depth analysis of these issues is encouraged to read both Mark Harris and Wesley Morris on the film.
This kind of movie in Hollywood isn’t anything new. 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy, seemed a vanilla choice for Best Picture compared to the far superior Do the Right Thing; a film that tackled race with more sophistication and complexity, but was not even nominated.
Add to the mix a history of praised films, which try to frame black issues through the eyes of a white protagonist; Mississippi Burning, Glory, even The Help (released in 2011 no doubt) and you begin to see why so many black moviegoers rolled their eyes at something like Green Book. To many, these movies represent an industry willing to tell black stories but unwilling to give them a voice.
But beyond race, Green Book’s win felt like a step back for the Academy. Three years ago, following the controversy that was #oscarsowhite, the Academy chose to open up its membership, bringing in more women, more people of color, and a younger crop of members.
The following year, the Academy awarded Moonlight a Best Picture win, and in one shocking, chaotic moment the world seemed to change. If Moonlight, a small independent film with no major stars, from a largely unknown filmmaker, and featuring one protagonist played across three different timelines by three different people, could win, anything could.
Last year, that excitement and energy seemed tested with The Shape of Water taking home Best Picture. And to be fair, Guillermo del Toro’s romantic fantasy about the love between a mute woman and a fish man is far more bizarre than any winner in recent memory. Yet, its victory always seemed to come from love within the industry, rather than moviegoers. In a weaker year, would its reputation be more glowing? Possibly. Instead, the film beat out acclaimed blockbusters like Get Out and Dunkirk, as well as beloved niche pictures like Phantom Thread or Lady Bird.
But while The Shape of Water seemed to represent a film that took the lead due to admiration across various subsects of the industry, Green Book seemed to represent something else, a repudiation. For those who hoped the victory of Moonlight was the dawn of a new age in Best Picture winners, Green Book demonstrated a step back, a feeling that Hollywood as an industry never truly changes or, at least not as fast as we hope.
But, wait a second? Why care so much about whether Green Book wins Best Picture? Is the outrage really that it wasn’t the best film 2018 had to offer?
Well, let’s take a look at Best Picture winners since…say, 1989, the year our aforementioned Driving Miss Daisy was released. For sake of clarity, we’ll stop at the 2014 Oscars, for the year 2013, as five years seems to be where we get the most clarity on what movies last.
*The films in question will be listed for the year they came out, not the year of the Oscars.*
1989: Driving Miss Daisy (ouch!)
1990: Dances With Wolves (Good, but eclipsed by the fact it beat out the far superior Goodfellas)
1991: The Silence of the Lambs (still iconic, still beloved)
1992: Unforgiven (Clint’s best movie, all-time great western)
1993: Schindler’s List (Spielberg’s best non-popcorn movie)
1994: Forrest Gump (Good, but as good as Pulp Fiction or The Shawshank Redemption?)
1995: Braveheart (trapped in the 90s)
1996: The English Patient (This says it all)
1997: Titanic (yup, still beloved)
1998: Shakespear In Love (a shocking win, even in 1999)
1999: American Beauty (this movie ages worse by the year)
2000: Gladiator (think of your last Gladiator conversation, think real hard)
2001: A Beautiful Mind (an award’s pat player that’s lost space in the popular consciousness)
2002: Chicago ( Lol what?)
2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (the sole franchise blockbuster to ever take top prize)
2004: Million Dollar Baby (B+ Clint Eastwood)
2005: Crash (Yes, it really is THAT bad)
2006: The Departed (Scorsese’s…7th best movie)
2007: No Country for Old Men (This one is aging quite nicely)
2008: Slumdog Millionaire (The best film from a lackluster year of nominees)
2009: The Hurt Locker (A film I really like but it hasn’t had the lasting impact I’d have hoped)
2010: The King’s Speech (Eclipsed by The Social Network, the best movie of the decade)
2011: The Artist (The most forgettable Best Picture winner of the last decade?)
2012: Argo (a movie everyone liked but didn’t necessarily love)
2013: 12 Years a Slave (Still a satisfying choice, even if you never want to see it again)
So, knowing that, does Green Book’s win really matter? As an act of canonization, deciding what the best movie of 2018 was, no. But, as a look inside Hollywood and the stories it values, Green Book signifies an industry struggling to come to terms with how much progressive change it wants to embrace. Much like our country at large.
It’s certainly possible an older section of the Academy latched strongly onto a familiar type of film, while younger, more diverse voters seemed split among a plethora of other nominees.
But let us not forget many of the night’s other winners, along with presenters, who represent the artists and storytellers that will shape our films for years to come.
It’s there where Hollywood’s future resides, Green Book will just be another forgettable Best Picture winner.
